Madness
by Veniseppe
Summary: "I understand he's your childhood friend and all, but regardless of how he was in that past... That man is no longer sane" - Cow Girls Uncle


_Madness_

**Chapter 1 - Trigger**

_"I understand he's your childhood friend and all, but regardless of how he was in that past... That man is no longer sane" - Cow Girls Uncle_

* * *

"Goblin Slayer! Everyone!" Called out Guild Girl from her station behind the desk, beckoning him and his party over as the odd group entered the adventurer's guild. "Good news! We have a new Goblin Quest!"

Hearing that put a slight spring in the Silver-ranked adventurer's step as he made his way toward the receptionist desk. "You said a Goblin quest?" he stated more than asked the blonde who smiled up at him.

"That's right!" she affirmed, reaching underneath her desk and pulling out a parchment displaying the details and the reward of the quest. "It comes from a small village out on the frontier, apparently the Goblins had been raiding them and stealing their women for the past few months and they finally pulled together enough money to hire someone to come deal with the problem. I pulled it off of the quest board to save it for you. I figured due to the lack of Goblin Quests as of late you'd be itching for one so I decided to put it on layaway for you."

"I see," Goblin Slayer replied, not noticing the slight look of disappointment on Guild Girls face. He then took the paper from her and turned to move back to his party. Who were waiting for him in the commons area.

"They finally had a quest available for you, huh?" Asked High Elf Archer leaning back in her chair and placing her hands on the back of her head.

"Yeah," Goblin Slayer replied, "It's a small village out on the edge of the frontier… It seems standard enough – a poor village terrorized by Goblins, apparently its been going on for months now, they just barely have enough to hire an adventurer.

High Elf Archer pouted a bit, "That's it? Pretty boring…"

"They've also taken female captives," added Goblin Slayer. At that High Elf Archer furrowed her brow.

"Disgusting pigs," she murmured.

"Shall we go then?" asked Dwarf Shaman, standing up and popping his back.

"Not yet," replied Goblin Slayer, "First I have to pick up my short sword from the smith, we'll leave as soon as I get back."

"Ah! In that case, I'll come with you!" said Priestess, a little to enthusiastically, earning her looks from the rest of her party, causing her cheeks to redden slightly. "I-I sent in my chainmail recently, I'm sure it'll be finished by now."

"I see," Goblin Slayer nodded to her, then began to leave, followed by Priestess who walked quickly to keep in pace with him.

The pair made their way in silence through the streets of Frontier Town, moving through crowds of people, none of which paid much attention to either of them. After all there were much more famous, impressive adventurers to gawk at. Heavy Swordsman for example, Spearman, or even Female Knight.

Suddenly, Priestess spoke up, "Ummm, Goblin Slayer, about what you said about the quest earlier…"

"Yes?" Goblin Slayer asked, not bothering to stop or look at her.

"You mentioned that the Goblins were taking women captives… You don't think that… There will be any Goblin children, do you?" she asked, memories of her first meeting with Goblin Slayer coming to mind. Of when he found the adolescent Goblins hiding in the back of the cave, seeing him bash their skulls in with a crude, blunt, club, and hearing their pig- like squeals as they died. She was grateful that she survived that day. She realized that all Goblins eventually grew to be evil, murderous, selfish creatures, but… that scene still returned to her in her dreams some nights, causing her to wake up in a cold sweat with tears running down her cheeks.

"Possibly," Goblin Slayer replied simply.

Priestess frowned and looked to her feet but continued to walk. She was silent as the memories came flooding back but did her best not to let it be too obvious that she was so disturbed by them. Suddenly, however Goblin Slayer stopped, causing her to almost run into him.

"Goblin Slayer?" she asked, looking up to him.

He turned to face her, looking down at her as he said, "You don't have to kill the children."

She blinked in surprise at him. He was like that sometimes. There were moments when he seemed oblivious to the entire world, everything but Goblins didn't seem to make sense to him. And then, there were times like this, where he proved himself to be more than just, well, a Goblin slayer. She smiled at his thoughtfulness and nodded, "Thank you, Goblin Slayer."

Goblin Slayer nodded at his party member then turned to open the door next to him. "We've arrived," he stated the obvious, and made his way inside, followed close behind by Priestess. The two entered the blacksmiths shop and fetched their respective items.

(Some Days Later)

Birds chirped as the morning light broke through the canopy of a dense forest on the frontier, illuminating the grassy floor beneath it, the animals that inhabited it, and a particular set of crumbling ruins that had been long forgotten. Vines crawled up and down its walls, moss grew at the base and in between the stones it was built of, and no light - apart from certain areas where the stone had faltered - made its way inside. Yes, a perfect place for Goblins to gestate.

A lone scout was stationed just outside of the entrance, leaning on his spear, and struggling to stay awake. He must've been on duty all night, waiting for another Goblin to come and take his place. He must've hated every second of it as well. Standing out in the cold dark while his Goblin friends danced and feasted and drank in the safety of their den. He may have been thinking about closing his eyes for just a moment, when an arrow flew true from the bushes, embedding itself deep into his skull, stopping when it hit the metal of his over-sized helmet at the back of his head, and causing him to fall to the ground in a heap.

From the bushes emerged the small, lithe figure of High Elf Archer, crouching, with her bow drawn, ready to quickly dispatch any other of the little monsters who she may not have seen from the bush. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she looked over her shoulder and waved her hand in a forward motion.

A moment later Goblin Slayer emerged almost completely silently – disregarding the slight clanking of his armor – from the bush. Soon he was followed by Dwarf Shaman, Lizard Priest, and Priestess, who clutched her sounding staff tightly.

"You know, if these things were better at covering their tacks, this place might have been harder to find," said Dwarf Shaman grinning to himself.

"It wasn't so much the Goblin tracks as it was the tracks of the women they kidnapped," explained High Elf Archer. "The struggle they put up made it easy to follow through the foliage."

"We're lucky to have such an experienced tracker in our group," stated Lizard Priest, with a smile on his scaly lips.

High Elf Archer smirked to herself pridefully as Goblin Slayer passed her by, heading towards the entrance of the abandoned ruins. It appeared to have been a temple of some sort, probably once belonging to some ancient civilization that had since moved on or had died out. Regardless of what it had been, it was now a dark, putrid Goblin Den. "What do you think, Orcbolg?" She asked their party leader, who stood at the wide entrance of the ruined structure.

"We could start a fire inside and seal the entrance, suffocating them," he paused, "But considering there are women in there, that's off the table."

"So, we're doing it the ol' fashioned way?" Smirked Dwarf Shaman.

"Yes," affirmed Goblin Slayer, "We go in, kill the Goblins, and rescue the women."

Goblin Slayer creeped in first followed by the rest of his party, crouching low and moving to a nearby support pillar for cover. As his eye's adjusted to the darkness – and thanks to small god rays that peeked through holes in the roof of the ruins - he began to make out the layout of the room. It was wide and mostly empty, with pillars dotting it, as well as drunk, sleeping Goblins – he counted twenty. And at the very back, illuminated under a large hole in the roof, a stone throne with a massive Hobgoblin snoring away with a large club lain against the left arm rest.

Goblin Slayer unsheathed his short sword and he and his party began to make their move, when unbeknownst to them, from a pitch-black corridor, emerged a second Hob. It raised its finger and bellowed in Goblin gibberish, Waking the other Goblins from their drunken sleep.

"Damn!" Goblin Slayer cursed, suddenly bolting towards the most dangerous threat – the Hob with the giant club. He made a B-line straight for the groggy creature, hoping to take it down before it came to its senses, stepping on and crushing an awakening Goblins windpipe on his way. _That's one_

He had almost made it when the Hob had noticed him and reached for his club, swinging it in a wide horizontal arc, barely missing Goblin Slayer, who came to a halt just before the blow connected with his head, possibly sending it clean off.

As the Goblins came to fully Goblin Slayer called out, "Priestess, Holy Light!"

"R-right!" came the adolescent girls reply, "O' Earth Mother, with your form so bright, shine down your _Holy Light!_" as she finished her chant, a bright golden light erupted from her staff, causing the Goblins to shield their eye's, blinded by it's intensity, while the adventurers looked away.

Unfortunately, the Hob who had swung at Goblin Slayer had been facing away from the spell - he let his own weight spin him around. Roaring angrily now, the Hob swung his club again at Goblin Slayer, this time in an over head arch, to which the adventurer rolled forward, missing the end of the club that smashed the weathered stone beneath it when it made contact.

Coming out of his roll, Goblin Slayer thrusted his short sword deep into the Hobs Gut, causing it to double over, coughing up blood, and then, with an audible grunt, smashed the edge of his buckler shield into the hobs meaty neck, as hard and as rough as he could, causing it to let go of the club and making it fall on to its back.

Meanwhile, Lizard priest had summoned two Dragontooth Warriors to help even the odds, whom of which began to attack the stunned Goblins. As the spell wore off however, the other Goblins made their advance, rushing at the party.

Dwarf Shaman readied his hand axe, not bothering to waist spells on the small fries. With surprising speed for an old dwarf, he swung his hand axe at two Goblins who rushed him in particular, slicing open one's throat and decapitating the other completely.

High Elf Archer stood just ahead of Priestess, taking to one knee and firing arrows in rapid succession at the charging Goblins taking down a dozen or so before the rest got wise and decided to take refuge behind pillars._ Slow on their feet and in the head, _she thought.

The two Dragontooth Warriors who had been summoned were tearing apart a group of the little monsters, when two giant hands grasped their skeletal heads and crushed them, causing the summons to crumble into a heap of bone. It was the Hob – enraged at being blinded by the spell, he charged right for Priestess and High Elf.

Priestess noticed this and quickly cast _Protection_, summoning a large magic golden wall between them and the Hob who smashed his fist with a loud roar against it but to no avail. Suddenly, he was caught off guard, when a large scaly fist smashed into his jaw, sending him tumbling to the floor, as Lizard priest came to the aid of High Elf and Priestess.

Goblin Slayer leapt atop of his own Hob adversary, trying to use his shield to decapitate the massive Goblin. However, the Hob recovered quickly, grabbing Goblin Slayer by the arm and tossing him into a pillar where his helmeted head smacked against the stone **hard** \- dazing him.

"Goblin Slayer!"

"Orcbolg!"

The Hob then stood up and with an angry roar rushed at Goblin Slayer, ready to crush him into paste. Just before he reached the dazed adventurer however, two arrows embedded themselves into his ribs, causing him to stop and grunt in pain, turning his attention to High Elf Archer who looked back with fire in her eyes. He was about to charge the Elf when Goblin Slayer, back to his senses, grabbed the hilt of the sword he had embedded into the Hobs gut and drug it across its exposed belly, causing its entrails to fall unceremoniously unto the floor, and the Hob to drop to its knees.

It knelt there, holding its guts in its shaky hands as blood poured from its mouth, unable to anything, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Then, in the corner of its eye it saw the rising armored adventurer standing tall with his blade above its head. Its eyes widened in fear, just before Goblin Slayer brought down his blade, cutting clean through its meaty neck, and severing its ugly head. _That's Two._

The other Hob, who until this point was grappling with the Lizardman saw this and, enraged by the death of its brother, let out and anguished, angry roar. It turned to face Lizard Priest and delivered a hard punch to his snout, staggering him, then turned its attention towards Goblin Slayer, who seemed to be having trouble staying on his feet. Still, the armored adventure dared the bastard to come after him by raising his short sword, covered in its brother's blood.

The Hob roared once again and charged at Goblin Slayer, who stood still. He wanted to move, but he still felt groggy from that blow to the head. The Hob had almost reached Goblin Slayer when an arrow lodged itself into the beast's shoulder, causing it to come to a halt, and prompting it to spin around, only find a roaring Lizardman hot on its trail, who then tackled it and pinned it to the floor. The two resumed their struggle, with Lizard Priest locking its scaly hand around the Hobs thick neck and the Hob, grabbing Lizard Priests face, trying push it away and grabbing his wrist, preventing his claws from digging into him.

Lizard priest grunted as he tried to fight against the Hobs strength. "Milord' Goblin Slayer!" he called to his party leader, "Focus on the smaller Goblins, leave this brute to me!"

Goblin Slayer nodded, feeling his head clear just a bit. Even how he was now he could take down a few lesser Goblins. He went to work.

Lizard Priest wrestled with the Hob on the stone floor, and as powerful as he was the Hob proved to be a worthy adversary in terms of strength. "Ancestors grant me your power! _Partial Dragon!_" Suddenly, the Lizardman snarled and his muscles began to grow, increasing in strength and weight, causing the stone beneath himself and the massive Hob to crack. The Hob was soon overpowered as the Lizardmans strength grew. It began to panic as its arms were pinned to the ground and it looked up into the maw of the dragon descendant, who then viciously closed his jaws on the face of the Hob, ending its life.

The remaining Goblins, seeing that their muscle had been defeated, then retreated deep into the ruins, but found their efforts in vain as High Elf Archer's arrows picked them off one at a time.

The battle was over. The Goblins were slaughtered. Now all they had to do was find the women.

"Goblin Slayer!" called out priestess as she rushed to her party leader, who was leaning against a pillar, two dead Goblins at his feet. Soon the rest of their party joined them. "Let me heal you!"

"No, first we have to find the women," Goblin Slayer retorted, as he pushed himself off the pillar.

"Leave that to us, Orcbolg," Said High Elf Archer, "Let Priestess heal you up and then you can catch up."

Goblin Slayer stood there for a moment, mulling it over. _If there are more Goblins, they will need my help, _he instinctively told himself. However, he had been with this party a long time and each of them had proved themselves proficient enough to operate without him. Silently, he conceded, allowing himself to slide down the pillar onto his rear, letting his head fall forward.

Priestess removed Goblin Slayer's helmet as the others went ahead, revealing his pale face, with blood covering his lips as well as his gray hair. His eyes had a glossed over look on them, and he grimaced in pain. Priestess furrowed her brow and placed her hands gently on the sides of Goblin Slayer's head causing him to wince.

"S-sorry," she stuttered out, before she began to cast _Minor Heal _and a golden glow began to emanate from her hands. She saw Goblin Slayer visibly relax and lean his head back, letting out a sigh of relief. They remained like that for a few minutes until Priestess was satisfied she had done all that she could. "I did what I could, but you should probably rest a few days to make sure everything's okay."

"Thanks," Goblin Slayer said as Priestess removed her small hands from his head and he redonned his helmet.

She smiled at him in reply and clutched her staff to her chest.

"Let's catch up to the others," Goblin Slayer said, taking off down the path the rest of his party had taken.

Priestess and Goblin Slayer followed the path the second Hob had come out of, priestess lighting the way with a low power form of the _Holy Light _spell as they made their way down a spiral staircase, descending deeper into the earth. Eventually, they came out into another large chamber lit by torch light and spotted the rest of their party, next to the captured women from the village that hired them.

Their party turned to face them with a conflicted look in their eyes. Goblin Slayer wondered what the matter was, they appeared to be well enough, and the women had been rescued - traumatized and violated - but they were alive. _What happened?_

Priestess was the first of the pair to speak up. "W-what's wrong?" She asked frowning.

Lizard Priest looked behind him at something just out of view, then back to the two other members of his party. "We've run into… a complication," he stated, then moved aside to give Goblin Slayer and Priestess a clear view of what he meant. There, just beyond the rest of the party were five baby Goblins, obliviously crawling about, unaware of the battle that had taken place above.

Goblin Slayer paused for a moment, staring at the Goblin spawn. He then looked to his companions and asked, "What complication?"

"The baby Goblins, obviously!" High Elf Archer replied, annoyed by Goblin Slayers apparent lack of understanding. "What do we do about them?"

He looked at her with a puzzled expression beneath his helmet. "Kill them, of course," He stated matter-of-factly.

"W-what?" She stammered out, taken aback by his cold response. "But, they're just children!"

"And they'll grow into adults and rape and kill," Goblin Slayer retorted, unsheathing his sword and making his way towards the children.

"Beard Cutter!" Dwarf Shaman spoke out now, "Don't you think that's a bit much? Surely there must be something else we can do with them…"

Even Lizard Priest spoke up saying, "Milord' Goblin Slayer, I have to agree… Goblins they are, but… they've done nothing wrong."

Goblin Slayer ignored them all, making his way towards the children who seemed oblivious to the danger. Then, High Elf Archer put herself between the children and Goblin Slayer, staring into the dark slits of his helmet with a furrowed brow.

"What's wrong with you!? They're babies!" she demanded, her voice echoing in the chamber.

Goblin Slayer looked down at her in silence for a moment before saying, with a barely detectable edge to his voice, "They're Goblins," and pushing her aside gently, continuing to make his way to the children.

High Elf staggered back, staring daggers at the back of the armored humans head. She then turned to Priestess, who had remained silent, clutching her staff tightly and keeping her eyes to the floor. "What about you? Aren't you going to say anything!?" Priestess shut her eyes tight and lowered her head.

Then, squealing was heard, prompting High Elf Archer to look back towards Goblin Slayer, just in time to see him holding a baby Goblin up by his leg, dangling him upside down, and driving his blade through its abdomen, eliciting a pained squeal from the Goblin before it went limp.

Archer felt sick as she watched Goblin Slayer drop the lifeless corpse of the child to the floor with a wet thud, then move onto the next, then the next, then the next – their squeals of pain and terror echoing in the chamber. She looked to her fellow party members who simply looked away, trying to ignore what was going on before them.

Finally, as their screams grew silent, High Elf Archer, shaking with anger at the scene she had been forced to witness, at Goblin Slayer for so brutally killing children – Goblin or not, and at herself for doing almost nothing to stop him, screamed "You bastard!" gaining the attention of the rest of the party. She had tears forming in her eyes as she stared at Goblin Slayer. "You… You're worse than the Goblins!"

Goblin Slayer was silent for a moment before replying, "I have to be, to rid the world of them properly."

High Elf Archer gritted her teeth angrily, turned, and stormed towards the staircase leading to the surface, pushing past Priestess, trying to put as much detail between herself and the rest of her party as possible. She was disgusted. Disgusted by Goblin Slayer, disgusted by her party, and by herself.


End file.
